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Saki Dodelson

Founder, President and CEO

As a founder of Youthline USA — an educational publication for students in grades 3-8 — and as Board Member of the AAP (American Association of Publishers) School Division and New Jersey Technology Council, Ms. Dodelson brings with her extensive knowledge about online and print educational publishing. From 1987 to 1999, she was Director of Finance with AT&T. During this time, she redesigned and marketed the Israeli2000 project — the Israeli Knesset's robust web site. She has 15 years of experience in business and finance, technology, and marketing. In 2004, she was the recipient of Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the New Jersey Finest Business Award, and the Educator500 Award.

Susan Gertler, Ph.D.

Founder, Chief Academic Officer

Prior to co-founding Achieve3000 in 2000, Dr. Gertler co-founded Youthline USA — an educational publication for students in grades 3-8 — where she served as its executive editor from 1997 to 2000. Dr. Gertler brings extensive experience in the educational publishing field. From 1992 to 1994, she worked as a researcher in a long-term study in which she designed and developed systems in the area of health psychology, including an on-line application for quantitative analysis of mental health status. She holds a BA in education and psychology from Columbia University and an MA and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Fordham University.

Peter Saretsky

Chief Financial Officer

Former CFO of MediZine, Inc. — a leading consumer health educational publishing and marketing company, F+W Publications — a publisher targeted at enthusiasts in a broad variety of special interest consumer markets, and International Masters Publishers — a global direct marketing publishing company; Mr. Saretsky's background includes a combination of experience in both small entrepreneurial and large corporate environments for both privately-held and public companies. Mr. Saretsky spent over 20 years at American Express Company, as CFO of various subsidiaries. He earned both a Bachelors and an MBA in Finance from Carnegie-Mellon University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Jim Coulon

Chief Strategic Officer

Jim has over twenty years of experience in the educational publishing industry. He started as a writer and project manager, working with several major publishers to develop new products. In 1996, Jim joined McGraw-Hill to take responsibility for marketing an $80M product line and launched the McGraw-Hill Learning Network, the company's first digital content and online learning portal. Jim assumed company leadership roles in digital product development and sales, digital rights management, and e-marketing. In 2000, he was selected to head up Marketing and Sales for McGraw-Hill Digital Learning — a new educational software sales division providing online assessment, reading and math intervention, and e-texts. The division exceeded first year sales projections by 22%. Before joining Achieve, Jim was McGraw-Hill's K-12 West National Sales Manager and was responsible for a $140M territory that grew revenue 36% in two years.

Jim O'Neill

Chief Product Officer

Jim comes to Achieve3000® with more than 16 years of experience in developing and marketing leading educational products and solutions. Prior to joining Achieve3000, he held a number of positions at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, including Senior VP of Product Management and Strategy and Senior VP of Portfolio Management and Strategy. In these roles, he was responsible for product management, marketing, and market research for pre-K through grade 12 and helped to develop comprehensive and specialized solutions across all curriculum areas. Before that, Jim held product development and marketing positions at National Geographic School Publishing, McDougal Littell, and Pearson Education. He earned a BS in Economics and History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

David Samuelson

Chief Marketing Officer

David has more than two decades of educational technology development and marketing experience. He comes to Achieve3000® from Pearson, where, most recently, he helped spearhead the digital strategy team as Executive VP of Games and Augmented Reality. In this capacity he explored new global business opportunities across Pearson’s education, trade publishing and information businesses in the games industry. David joined Pearson in 1997 and served in a variety of roles, including President of Global Schools, CMO and Product Strategist for Pearson’s U.S. School division, and VP of the Family Education Network. Before joining Pearson, he was VP for product development at Living Books (a joint venture between Broderbund and Random House) and MECC, maker of The Oregon Trail. David has also produced children’s theatre and an Emmy Award-winning children’s television program.